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through an open window in the kitchen. “Why thank you for bringing me this…this giant bottle of margarita mix, Todd. You’re so helpful.” And then a second later, “Kate! Stop corrupting my son and get your behind in the house. I’m starving!”
    The group of five enjoyed a dinner of tacos loaded with Kate’s famous homemade guacamole (the secret to it was lots of garlic and cilantro with just a hint of lime juice) and ice cream for dessert. Reminiscing about college, they began to recount stories from their college years.
    “Do you remember tape faces, Kate?” asked Amy.
    “Um, of course I do. I still can’t believe you convinced me to participate in that.”
    “Tape faces?” said Rick. “What are you talking about?”
    “Baby, you remember tape faces. You’ve seen the pictures, I’m sure.” Rick shrugged, apparently not recalling the alleged pictures. “We took pieces of masking tape and taped them all over our faces. I think we had our noses taped up like pigs and our eyes and lips taped in crazy ways to completely contort our faces. Then we walked through the freshmen boys’ dorm and tried to get some phone numbers for Kate.”
    “Which we did not,” said Kate.
    “Look, if none of those boys had the sense of humor to appreciate tape faces, then they clearly weren’t worth your time.”
    “Your mommy is a little crazy,” Rick whispered to the boys, who were focused on their ice cream.
    “Oh, please,” said Amy. “Like you weren’t a little crazy yourself. Remember the time you and a bunch of guys decided it would be funny to fill the little pond near the cafeteria with dish soap? There were bubbles in there for weeks!”
    “You’ll never be able to prove that I was a part of that,” said Rick with an expressionless face that could fool a prosecutor. It certainly had been able to fool the dean of the college. “But, speaking of bubbles, it’s time to bathe these filthy boys. Come on, Tarker and Podd. Bath time.”
    “Dad! That’s not our names!” they said through their giggles as they hurried down the hall after him.
    Stuffed, Amy began to clear the dishes while Kate put on a pot of coffee.
    “Thanks for dinner,” said Amy, scrubbing the cutting board covered with avocado remnants. “It was delicious, as always. You’re so sweet to come over and cook for us.”
    “You know it’s my pleasure, Ames. I love spending time with your sweet family. And besides, cooking for one isn’t very fun,” said Kate.
    “Speaking of cooking for one,” said Amy slyly, “what’s going on with you? Met anyone special recently?”
    “Oh please,” she replied. “You’d be the first to know if I had.” Kate hadn’t dated much in the past few years. Sure, there were a few guys here and there, but she wasn’t really one to be interested in casual relationships. She picked up the pan that had been used to transform tortillas into hard taco shells and ran it under the hot water. “But…I actually did get an interesting phone call at work this morning.”
    “Oh? Who was it?”
    “Ian,” Kate replied nonchalantly. Amy put down the cutting board dramatically and said, “Ian? Wait, Ian from college Ian? Ian who everyone thought you were dating because you spent so much time with Ian? Ian who went off to law school Ian? Ian who I tried to convince you time and time again was your soul mate Ian ? That Ian?”
    Kate smiled. “That’s the one.”
    “Okay. Just making sure I had the right person,” said Amy with fake nonchalance. She had known full well whom Kate was referring to. “Hmmm. Ian. Well, you talk on the phone from time to time, right? What made this phone call so interesting?”
    “He’s moving to Raleigh.”
    “What?!” shrieked Amy, dropping a handful of dirty ice cream spoons into the sink with a clatter that made Kate jump. “He’s moving to Raleigh?”
    “He just found out that he got a job as a junior associate at Wilson, Warnock & Levinson. Apparently he applied all